TB Lawh-i Subhana Rabbi al-`A`la - Introducton

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The Lawh-i Subhana Rabbi al-`A`la ("Glorified be my Lord, the Most Exalted")

orLawh-i Harf al-Baqa'(The Tablet of Eternity)

of

Mirza Husayn `Ali Nuri, Baha-Allah (d. 1892 CE). .

Introductory Notes

Stephen Lambden 2015.

The following Arabic prayerful invocation is utterted during the Islamic prayer ritual and in many other contexts such as Sufi Dhikr ("Remembrance", Recollection [ of God]).

According to `Abd al-Hamid Ishraq Khavari this Tablet of Baha'-Allah was written in Baghdad in honor of Hajji Mirza Musa Javahiri (Ganj, 61).

The Arabic text of the scriptural Tablet can be found in the following mss and printed texts:

INBMC 32:28-31.

Ishraq Khavari ed. Ganj-i shayigan, 61-64.

The Lawh-i Subhana Rabbi al-`A`la ("Glorified be my Lord, the Most Exalted") or Lawh-i Harf al-Baqa' (The Tablet of Eternity) commences as follows :

From INBMC 32:28

The Spirit (al-ruh) within the Horizon of Holiness (ufq al-quds), from the apex of the two wells (taraf al-jubbayn) hath indeed shone forth (mashriq an).

O Letter of Eternity (Ya harf al-baqa')!

This Tablet concludes as follows :

This is that which was inscribed upon the Tablet of Eternity (lawh al-baqa') by the Supreme Pen (qalam al-a`la). Then glorified be He Who created Me in whom is a Wisdom (hikmat) expressive of the Mysteries (min al-asrar) which hath neither been witnessed nor envisaged .